Thomas Preston-Werner is an investor, software developer, and a cofounder of GitHub, along with several other software companies, and cofounded 128 Collective Foundation and Preston-Werner Ventures to fund environmentalist initiatives. ^{1 2} Through 128 Collective Foundation, Preston-Werner also makes grants to abortion advocacy groups, LGBT-interest organizations, and other left-of-center advocacy groups, including the Hopewell Fund and the New Venture Fund within the Arabella Advisors-managed network of liberal “dark money.” ³

In June 2020, Preston-Werner published a blog post in response to the deaths of Ahmaud Arbury, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, stating that Tom and his wife, Theresa, would donate $250,000 in support of the critical race theory concept of anti-racism. ⁴

Career

In 2008, Tom Preston-Werner cofounded GitHub, a software development platform that sold to Microsoft for $7.5 billion in 2018. He was the company’s CEO until 2014, when Preston-Werner resigned after allegations of harassment were made against him; according to Forbes, Preston-Werner denied the allegations. ⁵ After review from a third-party investigator, GitHub published a report that Forbes reported “did not find evidence of harassment,” ⁵ but GitHub stated that its investigation found Preston-Werner “acted inappropriately,” engaged in “confrontational conduct,” disregarded workplace complaints, and failed to enforce an agreement where his wife, Theresa, would not work in their office. ⁶

In 2014, Preston-Werner cofounded CodeStarter, a software company that develops software code for applications and websites. ⁷ In 2015, he cofounded Chatterbug, a website that teaches individuals how to speak different languages. ^{1 8}

In 2019, Preston-Werner cofounded Preston-Werner Ventures, an angel investing company that invests in technology company startups. ¹ The fund provides ongoing funding and advising to its portfolio. ⁹ It is also led by RedwoodJS cofounder David S. Price and technology entrepreneur A. David Thyresson. ¹⁰

From 2019 to 2020, Preston-Werner worked as an advisor to Kora Sustainability, a firm that advises businesses on environmentalist practices they can engage in to reduce carbon emissions. ^{1 11}

Since 2020, Preston-Werner has sat on the board of Netlify, a cloud-computing service. ^{1 12}

Philanthropy

In 2019, Tom Preston-Werner and his wife, Theresa, founded their private fund, the 128 Collective Foundation, as part of Preston-Werner Ventures to make grants to environmentalist initiatives. According to its website, it questions the ability of market solutions to lower carbon emissions in alignment with the Paris Climate Agreement and states the role of 128 Collective Foundation is to campaign for and fund government-owned environmentalist energy projects to be used in the event privately owned utilities do not transition to only using weather-dependent energy. ^{2 13}

In June 2020, Preston-Werner published a blog post in response to the deaths of Ahmaud Arbury, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, stating that Tom and his wife, Theresa, would donate $250,000 in support of the critical race theory concept of anti-racism. ⁴

The 128 Collective Foundation also makes grants to organizations providing or advocating for abortion access, LGBT interests, and general left-of-center interests, including the Hopewell Fund and the New Venture Fund within the Arabella Advisors-managed network of liberal “dark money.” ³

In addition to angel investing, Preston-Werner Ventures makes investments based on a company’s plans to address climate change as part of Preston-Werner’s support for environmentalism. According to 128 Collective Foundation’s website and his Giving Pledge letter, Preston-Werner seeks to fund government-based approaches to achieve the Paris Climate Agreement’s plans for reducing carbon emissions. ^{2 13}

In 2023, Tom and Theresa Preston-Werner cowrote a letter stating their commitment to the Giving Pledge, where they agree to donate most of their wealth through their philanthropic ventures. ^{2 13}

1. “Tom Preston-Werner.” LinkedIn. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mojombo/details/experience/.
2. “Tom and Theresa Preston-Werner.” Giving Pledge. Accessed May 5, 2024. https://givingpledge.org/pledger?pledgerId=457.
3. Return of Organization Exempt form Income Tax (Form 990-PF). 128 Collective Foundation. 2022. Part XIV.
4. Preston-Werner, Tom. “Committing $250,000 to Racial Justice Efforts.” Committing $250k this year to racial justice efforts, June 15, 2020. https://tom.preston-werner.com/2020/06/15/committing-250k-to-racial-justice-efforts.
5. Tom Preston-Werner. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/profile/tom-preston-werner/.
6. Wanstrath, Chris. “Follow up to the Investigation Results.” The GitHub Blog, April 28, 2014. https://github.blog/2014-04-28-follow-up-to-the-investigation-results/.
7. “CodeStarter: Discover AI Use Cases.” CodeStarter. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://gpt3demo.com/apps/codestart-xyz.
8. “Learn Languages Online and Talk with Native Speakers.” Chatterbug. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://chatterbug.com/en/.
9.  “Preston-Werner Ventures.” Preson-Werner Ventures. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://prestonwernerventures.com/.
10. “Partners.” AngelList. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://venture.angellist.com/v/back/preston-werner-ventures-rolling-fund.
11. “Business Sustainability Development.” Kora Sustainability, February 16, 2024. https://kora.app/.
12. “Scale & Ship Faster with a Composable Web Architecture.” Netlify. Accessed May 6, 2024. https://www.netlify.com/.
13. “Home.” 128collective.org. Accessed May 5, 2024. https://128collective.org/.